Hello I Am David! Page #5

Are you the brother?

-No, no, a friend.

-Friend.

A friend. A good friend. You need good...

Hello. Hello. How are you?

Hello. Very nice.

Confirmation, confirmation.

Just like a baby. Hello.

Just like a baby. Is that the father?

How are you? I'm David.

Water, water! Hello.

Who's this? Midgie. Hello.

Etienne. French! You're French?

My mother's French.

That's good, the best of all. Very nice.

Thank you. Merci. You're the father.

-State of mind.

-... are very closed up.

-State of mind. Mind set.

-Yes. Um...

-It's a state of mind. A mindset.

-Certainly, this would apply.

-Did I behave?

-Even...

-Well, hopefully. You have to open up.

-It's closed up in many ways.

[Gillian] But do you know as you

get to warmer climates,

it's easier to be friendlier.

You just spend more time outdoors.

Where you're living in colder climates,

people are more self contained.

But then, when you look in history,

hardly any great artists

have come out of the trop.

No, no. That's true.

[Gillian] This is a very charming place.

Keep smiling!

[Speaking in German] Four beats before 41.

Bassoons and clarinets,

hold the half note longer, yes?

That was a bit too fast to 2.

You've got to laugh. You've got to laugh.

[conductor] More vivo after 27. One, two,

three, four, five, six,

the seventh beat after 27.

Yes, forte, forte. Yes.

Go for it. I'll begin.

[orchestra starts playing]

Yes. All right. Good.

Thank you very much.

[applause]

Good luck. Good luck.

One, two, three... One, two, three...

One, two, three... One, two, three...

Again.

[applause]

[soft music playing]

Enjoy. Enjoy.

[Speaking in German] Enjoy it, enjoy

the moment. It's really great.

We all know that, but he practices it

and always reminds us all

that we should do that with him too.

We're really very fortunate.

When playing with

the ensemble of the orchestra

he sometimes gets distracted

with his enthusiasm,

because he's so happy the flute's

playing with him, or the horn or celli,

and at times it makes you wonder

what will happen next.

As the conductor,

you need to keep an overview,

but that's what gives the special,

improvisational character

to the performance.

It's underpinned by great piano playing.

It doesn't have the hallmarks of

perfection, but of primeval musicality,

of drive, of reverie,

and of great extremes.

That's how music should be.

Not one tempo from start to finish,

but a playfulness with the

various characteristics of the music.

And it's so full of that,

you have to concentrate when listening.

It's not just "okay, here we go," as one

might think with Rachmaninoff's music.

It's very intoxicating music,

very sonorous, rousing music.

At the same time this music has,

in the good sense, a show effect.

It really does. It was the age of

George Gershwin, Rachmaninoff,

Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Sound.

To an extent they were dandies,

who played and composed it,

and they knew how to live life.

And David exudes all that

in his own way, with his joy and his

jazz-man mode

in which he plays this music.

That's incredibly moving for me.

[soft piano music playing]

-[David] What is it?

-It's broken.

-Oh, is it? Just there. Oh, what a shame.

-Yeah.

What a pity. It is a pity. Well, we can

repair... Most things can be repaired.

-What? Oh, there is a bit of a damage.

-Yeah, damage.

This happened to you?

I did. I broke my finger

-in the swimming pool.

-You broke it?

But then we flew right back

to Australia and they fixed it.

-They fixed it? And now you can play?

-[David] They fixed it.

And now I can play again. It's a miracle.

I know, the nightmare's over.

I can play now.

Traveling with David is fine, as long as

you're moving the whole time.

I mean I'd love to get out

and wander around a bit.

He's fine as long as the car is moving.

-[David] The car, that's right...

-And if you keep coming to traffic lights.

He even complains about

stopping at a stop light.

-We wont be long David.

-Oh, good.

And if you don't complain.

You'll get me a reward.

don't know why I have

to reward you for just...

behaving nicely.

[soft music]

[David] I can't entertain

myself for hours.

Hello, I'm David. That's very nice.

[Gillian] David, put them back.

Now don't touch anything, darling.

Thank you very much. I'm David.

[Gillian] David, get out

of the way, darling.

[David] I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Gillian] You should have

stayed in the car.

[David] I know, but it's boring.

Oh, can I? Can I, darling? Yes.

[indistinct conversation]

Oh, that was terribly nice.

I don't know. What is it?

It's all this red stuff. A lot. I know.

-[Gillian] Open the door for me darling.

-Which door? Oh, this door!

Just what we want is more

things, shopping.

-Can I--

-No just get in the car.

The joys of shopping with Helfgott.

Darling, why do we have to wait

and sit around waiting for so long?

[David] Oh, there's one more present.

Thank you, darling.

Because-- all right then, I wont

do you any shopping.

Can you buy me a Coke?

Did you buy me a Coke?

No, I didn't today, we'll get

you one tomorrow.

I'll get you a bigger

bottle tomorrow, okay?

Four, five, that'll do.

That's fair enough.

Just one. Three cups, that'll do.

Well, it'll have to do. Shoo, shoo.

You want some? Want some?

What is it?

-It's a sort of concentrate.

-Vegemite.

Have you heard of that?

Yes, it's an Australian--

That's right. All the way from Australia.

That's what I got for my birthday.

A tube of Vegemite.

Have some. It's vitamin B.

You've got to have vitamin B.

You like it? The Prime Minister likes it,

but the President doesn't,

but the Prime Minister does.

[David] Who wants this tea?

[Gillian] I think his childhood was taken

up almost entirely with playing the piano.

He was at school of course, but...

every afternoon after school

he was practicing.

And so his whole life

was devoted to the piano.

Now, this wasn't sad for him.

He loved it.

But as he got older he realized that he

never had a normal childhood.

And I think this would probably apply

to practically every child prodigy.

You've got your tea?

Have you got your tea?

I think we have.

Have you enough?

You have enough! Oh, good. You can share.

You have enough. Right.

The world should be enough.

They were five children,

and on just an average

wage that is a struggle.

The fact that the father bought the piano

when they really didn't

have any furniture,

I think is something one

has to admire greatly,

that he had the courage

to go and spend the money,

on the piano.

And, without him doing that, David

wouldn't be the pianist he is today.

[Gillian] Things started to go wrong

for David when he was 15.

Issac Stern... a famous violinist,

recommended that

he should go and study at the

Curtis Institute in America.

And... he was accepted... to go,

and his father wouldn't allow him to go.

I can understand this in some ways.

You know, David's parents are Polish.

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